Pagefile Question

[Pwndenburg]

Hello all,

These forums have helped guide this neophyte in the right direction many times before; so, I come before you with another (probably silly) question. For years I have owned a samsung 830 and simply set it to max reliability and had no problems.

With the some of the newer games I've found that I was getting a low on memory crash. I noticed that I appeared to have more than enough RAM left at the time of the crash even with just 8 gig. When I set the software to "Maximum Performance" the issue went away. The only major difference I could see was that a larger pagefile was used.

This assumption was further evidenced by the large amount of page file usage recorded on Shadow of Mordor specifically. Bottom line, how large should I make the pagefile and should I keep it on the 830, move it to the newer 850 pro 512, or stick it on the 7200 RPM?

Also, just for reference, I've had the 128 gig 830 powered on for 661 days and have ~5.2 TB written to it and the 850 is brand new. My usage case is obviously basic browsing and gaming.

 

[Carfax83]

If you insist on having the pagefile on, then it's probably better to let Windows manage it. That way you know for sure you'll never have any low memory issues. And I would keep it on the 830. Use the newer 850 Pro for the OS and for games..

But if you really want my advice, I'd say get rid of the pagefile completely by getting another 8GB of RAM. I haven't had a pagefile on my PC for years, and on my latest build I have 16GB of RAM.

Getting rid of the pagefile can reduce stuttering in some games that read and write to main storage often, and improve loading times. It will also prevent unnecessary writes to your SSD, because now those writes will be to RAM..

 

[Pwndenburg]

Oh,

now I see, I was thinking that regardless of how much memory I had certain software would abuse the PF. So, if I simply install another 8 gigs problem solved. Wow, I just blew a lot of cash for ssd endurance I didnt' need. Oh well, I'm sure I'll enjoy that little beast for years to come.

I tried to "manage" the PF myself and noticed that in 3 hours I had 50 gigs or so to the 850; so, I said maybe I should talk to someone more knowledgeable lol.

 

[Elixer]

IMO, it is a bad idea not to have any PF. It is used by the system for lots of things, and, while it is true that you can turn it off, some programs require it.
Nobody said the PF must be on the SSD, then again, it won't hurt, and worrying about NAND life is a non-issue for the average user.

 

[Carfax83]

Like I said earlier, I haven't had a page file in probably 10 years on any PC that I've built, and I've never had any issues.

I don't think it's a problem assuming you have enough memory unless you're running software that uses a lot of RAM, but since the vast majority of consumer oriented programs (including games) don't use an obscene amount of memory, then disabling the page file is harmless, and even arguably beneficial..

I wouldn't recommend someone disabling the page file with 8GB or less. Only with 10GB and up would I advise someone to disable it, and only if they aren't running any kind of particularly RAM hungry software..

 

[Cerb]

If you have to have it, just turn it on, put it on the SSD, and leave it. If it needs growing, Windows will grow it.

With a 512GB 850 Pro, why not clone your OS to that, as a start, so you don't have to be worried about the size?

 

[Pwndenburg]

Honestly,

Fear and ignorance. I'm so scared that I will mess the process up. I've done the research and it seems simple; but, even after backing up any and all relevant files I just can't seem to go for it.

 

[Cerb]

Process? You literally do a copy of the 128GB to the 512GB. You can fill the partition out to the fill the bigger SSD within Windows. Just make sure you have your source and target set correctly, and you're golden, with basically any tool for the job, Don't have it do anything special, like resizing partitions--you just a block by block copy (most will be smart enough to not copy free space, even if you don't give any special direction on that, not that it would cause undue wear if it did). It's when going to a smaller drive that you have to do special things, sometimes.

 

[Pwndenburg]

Ok,

You've got the blood pumping and me ready. One last question, I have all my partitions set as "primary." Will this cause issues?

 

[Schmide]

Pagefile is an important part of the virtual memory process. I advise to keep it.

 

[Cerb]

Depends. Is the partition that should grow out to fill the spare space the last one? If not, it may be a problem. If you have a second partition that's just data--IE, no programs, and no folder redirection--you could delete it, after copying the data off of it, and get yourself down to the beginning reserved partition, and C:, which is all you need to have.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Ok,

You've got the blood pumping and me ready. One last question, I have all my partitions set as "primary." Will this cause issues?

No. Just clone the source disk to the target disk, shut down the system, maybe do a "secure erase" on the source drive, partition and re-format. At least, that's probably the plan I'd follow.

The only hitch arises if you clone with the same boot-drive signature. In that scenario, you'd have to shut down your system immediately after its finished, pull the source drive and prepare it on another system before reinstalling it.

Drives with identical signatures would cause boot failure. Windows can "repair" it with the install disc, but a little attention to care and caution can avoid it.

The cloning software I use gives you the option to shut down the system immediately after completion of the clone.

 

[Cerb]

You should generally remove the cloned drive right after cloning...